SAUDI ARABIA: SUPREME COURT COUNCIL UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCES FOR TORTURE

last week the Supreme Court Council in Saudi Arabia upheld the death sentences issued in April by a Makkah judge against the father and stepmother of a nine year old girl, Ghosun, who was repeatedly tortured and later died.
Her death occurred last year when the police reported that she had broken ribs, that her front teeth had been knocked out, that her body showed bruises and knife wounds and that she had choked on her own blood.
Ghosun’s father and stepmother both admitted to torturing the girl but refused to accept responsibility for causing her death.
For a whole year her divorced biological mother knocking on the door of every official and human rights organization attempting to get custody, the child was starved, beaten mercilessly, burned, chained to her bed and prevented from going to school.
Initially in February the father was sentenced to five years in prison, the minimum in such cases while his wife awaited prosecution. The child’s mother appealed the case and the judge ruled that both the father and stepmother should be sentenced to death. The judge surprised observers and went against expectations, which were at most a life-sentence for both, because he decided that both the case and the abuse of children in general required a strong statement.